Posts Tagged ‘Glen Davis’

December 2, 2013 · 11:56 PM ET

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY —Back and Forth With Bones is an e-mail exchange between NBA.com’s John Schuhmann and NBA TV’s Brent Barry during a Monday night game. This week, they sat down (Schuhmann at home in New Jersey, Barry in the studio in Atlanta) to watch the 6-10 Orlando Magic visit the 8-9 Washington Wizards.

Pre-game

Schuhmann: Hey Bones, we got Magic-Wizards tonight.

The Wiz have won six of their last eight games with an improved offense (103.5 points per 100 possessions vs. 98.5 in their first nine games). For the season, they’ve been great on both ends of the floor with John Wall, Nene and Marcin Gortat on the floor with two of the Trevor Ariza/Bradley Beal/Martell Webster group, outscoring opponents by 14.3 points per 100 possessions. But all other lineups have been dreadful. So depth is an issue, especially with Beal out.

So that has to be a priority for Orlando’s defense, which ranks 26th in defending corner 3s and has been pretty bad over the last nine games after a strong start. I don’t know if Jameer Nelson is available (and the Magic offense has been pretty awful with him off the floor), but the Wall-Victor Oladipo matchup should be fun.

The Wizards have been a good defensive rebounding team with Gortat and Nene on the floor together, but pretty awful when one or both sits. So Nikola Vucevic could have some success if either gets in foul trouble.

Thoughts?

Barry: Yes, Randy Wittman is auditioning players to help take the load off of the starting group. But this game is interesting to me in that there is a lot of positivity regarding the Wizards recent play. Can they accept and continue what it is that has gotten them there?

With Beal out, I am stoked to see Martell Webster getting quality starter minutes, though 40-plus (in three of those) is too many. He’s just ready to get in there and mix it up, being a pro.

Watching John Wall balance out his game tonight will be key. Quality possessions against a team in Orlando that competes and shares the ball on offense are a must. The bigs must stay out of foul trouble for Washington.

Orlando is not a huge dribble-penetrate attack team other than Oladipo. It’s interesting that the Wiz have had this stretch with Beal (NBA minutes leader and their leading scorer) out.

Is Arron Afflalo an Eastern Conference All-Star? Hard to say he hasn’t played like one.

Schuhmann: Nah, the East All-Stars should just be six players each from Indiana and Miami.

Barry: Add four from the West to the East. Any player born east of the Mississippi can qualify for East team headed to NO!

Jameer Nelson (left foot) will not play against the Wizards tonight, Jacque Vaughn said.

October 1, 2013 · 10:15 AM ET

From Media Day until opening night, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann will provide a key stat for each team in the league and show you, with film and analysis, why it matters. Up next is the Orlando Magic, who, after a decent start, sunk like a stone to the league’s worst record in the league last season.

The basics

ORL

Rank

W-L

20-62

30

Pace

94.5

14

OffRtg

98.9

27

DefRtg

106.7

25

NetRtg

-7.8

29

The stat

The context

Does anyone remember that the Magic were 12-13 (ninth in the Eastern Conference) through their first 25 games last season? The key to that solid start was the sixth-ranked defense in the league. But from Dec. 20 on, the Magic went 8-49 and ranked 30th defensively, allowing 110.2 points per 100 possessions.

So what happened on Dec. 19? Glen Davis sprained his left shoulder and was lost for 11 games. He returned for nine games in January, but then broke his left foot and was done for the season.

Davis isn’t exactly Kevin Garnett when it comes to defense. He’s not as mobile, he’s not as intense and he’s not as vocal. Nobody is.

But Davis did spend four seasons learning from KG in Boston. And compared to the rest of Orlando’s roster, he has a ton of experience. That can go a long way when it’s time to defend a pick-and-roll…

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The Magic’s strength of schedule wasn’t great in those first 25 games, but they did beat Denver, the Lakers (on the road) and Golden State twice, allowing the Warriors (who finished with the 10th best offense in the league) to score just 96 points per 100 possessions in the two games.

Much was made of the offensive production of some of the Magic’s young players in the second half of the season. There’s a lot of promise in guys like Tobias Harris, Maurice Harkless, Andrew Nicholson and Nikola Vucevic.

But over the last 57 games of the season, their team defense was absolutely dreadful. They didn’t defend the paint or the 3-point line very well, and they barely forced any turnovers.

It shouldn’t be any surprise that their defense in those first couple of months was at its best, allowing just 95.5 points per 100 possessions, with Davis on the floor with fellow vets Jameer Nelson and Arron Afflalo. The trio missed a total of 92 games last season.

His absence will likely keep them from being a decent defensive team at the start of the season. But if he can somehow come back at close to 100 percent, he could certainly spark an improvement and make Orlando much less of a walkover for opponents looking to pad their record.

January 29, 2013 · 7:42 AM ET

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

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News of the morning

Pau Gasol won’t request trade … for now — CBSSports.com’s Ken Berger reports that while Gasol isn’t happy coming off the bench this season, he’ll accept the role for 2012-13. After that? It’s not looking like Gasol wants a Sixth Man of the Year Award in his trophy case:

“It’s hard for anybody who considers himself one of the top players in the world to say, ‘OK, I’m OK with coming off the bench,'” Gasol said. “It’s a difficult situation that we’ve been dealing with here. The last few games have been great, and we’re staying positive and we look forward to that to continue. But at the same time, we don’t need any other distractions, any more negativity. We need positive embracing, we need focus, we need to support each other. That’s where we’re at and that’s where I’m at, too.”

After the post-practice interview, Gasol told CBSSports.com he was willing to embrace the bench role for the rest of the season, but couldn’t see himself accepting it for longer than that.

“I’ve been on this team, in this city, for six years,” Gasol said. “It’s very hard to stick around on this team, and I take pride in that. I think I’m a valuable asset and I want my role to be as big as it can be, within the well being of the team. But I don’t know if being a player that comes off the bench will be something that I’ll be able to accept long term.”Right now I want this team to work. I feel we have a very privileged team with great athletes. It’s been a crazy year for everyone, and I understand that. And the last thing I’ll be here is selfish right now. So I’m willing to work with what we have right now for the rest of the year and have no problems, because I want it to work. And I’m not a guy that just quits on himself or on his team.”

Bogut returns for Warriors, but Curry gets hurt — Marcus Thompson II of the San Jose Mercury News reports that the Warriors finally got big man Andrew Bogut back in the lineup, but lost their star guard, Steph Curry, to — yep, you guessed it — an ankle injury:

But just when the Warriors were getting used to finally having their starting lineup intact, point guard Stephen Curry was knocked out of the game with a mild sprain of his right ankle.

It didn’t take long for Bogut to have an impact. On the Warriors’ first possession, he got the ball on the low block, dribbled baseline, spun to the middle and dropped in a left-handed hook in the lane. A couple minutes later, a touch pass from David Lee to Bogut led to an open dunk. Through his first six minutes, Bogut had four points and two rebounds. … “You can tell we’re a different basketball team with him on the floor,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. “It was great to have him. Makes me a better coach. … He makes guys better, and he completes us as a team.”

At the five-minute mark of the third quarter, he was driving to his left while trying to get down the middle of the lane. While splitting two defenders, Curry appeared to step on Aaron Gray‘s foot. Curry hit the ground hard and was slow to get up. He tried to walk it off, and after signaling to Jackson he was fine, stayed in the game for just over a minute. Still wincing, he was replaced by Jarrett Jack. For the next several minutes, Curry was looked at by the training staff, fidgeted with his brace and jostled his ankle, took multiple trips to the locker room and even tried to talk Jackson into letting him back in. Jackson sent assistant coach Pete Myers to watch Curry run in the hall.

After Myers’ report, Jackson shut down Curry for the night.

“Just wanted to be smart,” Jackson said. “There was no need to put him back out there. He wanted to get back in the game, but I’ve got more interest in his future and our future. Funny thing is, he told me he knew he didn’t stand a chance once I sent my hit man to see him run in the back.” Curry said he had no idea about his status for Tuesday. He will continue to receive treatment before testing it out during the game.

It’s halfway through the NBA season and it looks like things are crystallizing in Nuggets’ guard Andre Iguodala’s head concerning his opt-out decision at the end of the season.

Though he did not say it specifically it appears he’s leaning toward staying with the Nuggets long term, but here’s how: By opting out of his current contract, which would pay him roughly $16.2 million next season and signing a new, multiyear deal – even if the annual value of the contract comes out to be less than what he’s making now and scheduled to make next season.

“A lot of players have done it where they’ve gave up a large bulk of their contract, say, giving up $16 million to get $60 million,” said Iguodala, who turns 29 years old on Monday.

“In the grand scheme of things that makes sense. But if you give up $16 million and you get $20 million (it doesn’t make sense). So it’s all about playing your cards right and seeing where you’re at. At the end of the day winning takes care of everything, so if we win here, then hopefully the organization and myself will come to an agreement and we’ll continue to build on what we have here.”

Bynum pushes his return back a bit | Watch— Andrew Bynum had planned on getting back on the court for the Sixers by the All-Star break. Now he’s shooting more for a post-All-Star break return, as Tom Moore of phillyBurbs.com reports:

“I talked about that for a while,” said Bynum prior to Monday night’s game against the Grizzlies. “I think giving myself a full other week of training camp is going to be better than trying to come back before that. To me, it doesn’t really matter when I come back.”

The Sixers visit the Timberwolves on Feb. 20, which is the first of 31 games to close out the regular season.

Sixers GM Tony DiLeo said earlier Monday that Bynum could practice with the team as soon as next Monday.

“He’s finishing up the last phase and then he’ll start to do more and more basketball-related activities and slowly build up to where he can get out there and practice 5-on-5 with the team,” DiLeo said.

Bynum said he has “no idea” if he’ll be able to practice that soon.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I haven’t discussed anything yet. It’ll be up to the doctors at that point.”

More good news on Bulls’ Rose? — It’s always hard to get precise information about how the injury rehab work by Bulls star Derrick Rose is going, especially when consulting his coach, Tom Thibodeau. All that said, there might be more positives on the horizon in terms of the former MVP’s status:

News about Derrick Rose continued to be handed out cautiously Monday, as it remained evident coach Tom Thibodeau is in complete control of the message.

Asked if there were any restrictions on Rose in practice, Thibodeau said, ‘‘He’s doing fine,’’ again showing his ability to duck and weave.

What Thibodeau would discuss is how the Bulls have been getting Rose into the mix with the first-teamers while making sure Kirk Hinrich still gets his work in with them, too.

‘‘[Rose has] already done a lot in terms of that in practice,’’ Thibodeau said. ‘‘That’s not going to be an issue. We have a good group of guys, so we actually bring guys in early before practice to go through stuff. They all — some first-team guys, some second-team guys — play different positions, so it adds a lot of versatility to our team.’’

In other words, if Rose wants to get in some extra work to test the surgically repaired torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, his teammates are there to provide it, even if it means showing up early for practice.

Lin meets legend before Rockets-Jazz game — Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports that Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin, who ignited the NBA with his underdog story last season, met a true pioneer of the game before last night’s matchup with the Jazz in Salt Lake City:

Long before there was Jeremy Lin, there was Wat Misaka leaving footsteps for Lin to follow. For the first time on Monday, those paths intersected. The first Asian-American in the NBA met the latest, with Misaka arriving early at Energy Solutions Arena to exchange pleasantries before the game. “It was humbling,” Lin said. “He was before all of us. He broke a lot of stereotypes, a lot of barriers and racial stereotypes. You have to pay respect to the people who came before you.”

Misaka, 89, said he has followed Lin’s career since Lin played at Harvard, writing to him several times. A native of Ogden, Utah, Misaka was drafted by the Knicks, then of the BAA, in 1947, with New York making him the team’s first-ever draft pick after he had led Utah to the 1944 NCAA and 1947 NIT championships. “He’s kind of following in my footsteps and improving on them,” Misaka said. “I wrote him a note of encouragement when he was with (Golden State) back in the dark days when things didn’t look too good for him. He didn’t have all these fans at that time. He’s made a lot of progress since them. I think he’s in a lot better place now.”

As the Orlando Magic prepare to face the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night, the emotional power forward plans to avoid talking to referees after questionable calls and non-calls. Davis received a technical foul in each of Orlando’s last four games for complaining to referees.

“I’m not going to say ‘Hi,’ ” he pledged. “I’m not going to say, ‘How are you doing?’ I’m just going to come here and play. That’s it because it’s been messing up my game, messing up the flow of my game, and I’ve got to grow up.”

Davis’ tech midway through the third quarter of the Magic’s loss to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday raised his technical-foul count this season to five and left him on the hook for a total of $10,000 in accumulated fines. Additional techs will result in more stringent fines. Players don’t receive an automatic one-game suspension until they commit their 16th technical in a given season.

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“You can’t just think that I am stronger than everybody else,” he said. “If people foul you, they foul you. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don’t jump high. I go straight to the rim. But I’m not going to complain if there’s not a foul. The refs know that. But I’ve got to blend in with the game and let them do what they need to do. So I just need to shut up.”

With Howard and the Lakers smarting from the 10-point loss to the Magic, the All-Star big man reportedly left the court without so much as a handshake for the guys he battled alongside for years in Orlando.

Magic players said they weren’t upset that Howard didn’t shake their hands or wish them well after Sunday night’s win. Howard walked off the court once the final seconds of the fourth quarter ticked off Staples Center’s clock.

“I don’t have any hard feelings to the guy. He made a decision to do what he did. He’s on the team that he’s on. I’m here in Orlando, where I want to be. I just wish him the best of luck. I’m not going to go up and hug him and kiss him or anything like that. I think my coach would be mad at me.”

Magic power forward Glen Davis said he didn’t take any offense.

“If he wants to walk off the court, it’s cool,” Davis said. “No hard feelings, you know? He lost. I would feel bad, too. I wouldn’t want to shake anybody’s hand. So it is what it is.”

Howard and the Lakers have issues of their own to deal with. They’ll have to play another week without Steve Nash and another six to eight weeks without Steve Blake (abdominal surgery), the man who was slated to serve as Nash’s primary backup,

May 8, 2012 · 10:46 AM ET

INDIANAPOLIS — They represent a hospitable Midwestern city that’s fond of greeting strangers with a folksy “hi, ya’ll!” Their coach is friendly and approachable. Actually, the players themselves are really nice guys, quite a contrast from the rough and tumble clowns that engaged in the bloodiest fight in NBA history.

Yep, these Pacers are mighty swell and fun to be around, which is all good. Unless they’re trying to close out a tight game or a playoff series. That’s when being nice guys is all bad.

“You’ve got to be a little angry,” said Danny Granger, Indiana’s leading scorer in the playoffs at 20.5 ppg.

You’ve got to step on the other guy’s throat, and then again just to make sure the body isn’t twitching. Such is the mentality that’s necessary this time of year, when a team is ready to move to the next challenge. The Pacers took a commanding 3-1 lead over the Magic into their house Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, NBA TV), an ideal setting to clinch the best-of-seven first round, although the Pacers’ cut-throat mentality has been anything but against Orlando.

They blew an eight-point lead with three minutes left in Game 1 (which they lost), then saw a 19-point lead evaporate in Game 4. They were able to salvage that game in overtime, but the question persists with this group: are they nasty enough to challenge for a conference title?

April 30, 2012 · 11:02 AM ET

INDIANAPOLIS — Roy Hibbert has a six-inch height advantage and surely an XXL wingspan advantage over Glen “BigBaby” Davis, but the one figure that separates the two in this series is 8-3.

Davis had eight buckets and Hibbert three in Game 1.

The one obvious advantage the Pacers tried to exploit against Orlando did not go as planned in this DwightHoward-less first round. Hibbert was a non-factor offensively, and while that didn’t cause the Pacers to lose — they crumbled in the clutch — it did help make the game closer than it should’ve been.

And while Hibbert was named to the All-Star Game for the first time, what Game 1 proved is his offensive skills remain prehistoric, no matter the height advantage. His numbers since the All-Star break are down across the board as well. For the season, Hibbert averaged only 12.8 ppg and was Indiana’s third or fourth option. And despite his size, he shooting less than 50 percent for the season. That spilled over against the Magic, where Hibbert shot three-for-11 and looked like he had two left feet, his footwork was so plodding.

April 5, 2012 · 9:44 AM ET

Jeremy Lin is down for the count and who knows when/if Amar’e Stoudemire will return to action. That means what’s left of the Knicks’ roster will have to carry New York for the duration. While the Knicks are still battling for the last playoff slot, they also have their sights set on the No. 6 seed in order to play Orlando in the opening round instead of either Miami or Chicago. And on the heels of last week’s trampling of the Magic, a repeat performance would not only greatly enhance the achievement of both of these goals, but also make Orlando shiver in anticipation of encountering New York in the money season. After their fourth-quarter meltdown in Indiana on Tuesday, the Knicks also has to prove that they do have a necessary killer instinct.

On the flip side, the Magic need the win to demonstrate that their humiliating performance in New York was a fluke, and that they are indeed legitimate championship contenders.

HOW THE KNICKS CAN WIN

Forget about LeBron, Kobe and/or Kevin Durant — Carmelo Anthony is the most versatile scorer in the game. If KD is a better long-distant dialer, Anthony’s 3-point shooting is more reliable than the other two elite scorers. The difference is ‘Melo’s dynamic post-up game. With Stoudemire out, Anthony is now filling the power forward slot, which makes his offense even more unstoppable (plus he’s a better rebounder than his predecessor). There’s certainly no way that either Hedo Turkoglu, Ryan Anderson (if he makes a miraculous recovery from a freshly sprained ankle), or Glen Davis can put up any meaningful defensive resistance without considerable help. The problem is the Knicks’ spacing forces defenders to come a long way to double Anthony. And should Anthony bring his A-game into the last period, the Magic will run out of tricks.

Assuming that Dwight Howard has recuperated from the infamous phantom punch, Tyson Chandler has the length and the defensive chops to make him labor mightily to score in the low post. In addition, Howard gets flustered when he’s doubled on the move and tends to force shots, make wayward passes, or simply commit turnovers. Chandler’s timely dive-cuts on high screen/rolls should also put him in dunk city. (more…)

March 30, 2012 · 6:14 AM ET

After a brief hiatus to make way for the college kids, Shaq is back with his latest batch of foolish plays. DeMarcus Cousins, Big Baby, Dwyane Wade, Sky Hawk and of course, our main man JaVale McGee are all in the running for this week’s Shaqtin’ A Fool play. Vote now!

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Steve Aschburner: Get Steve Nash to Orlando. The ingenious point guard – who already has shown us that Canadian calendars count years differently than U.S. editions – could be the guy who convinces Howard to stay in Orlando. He would wring extra creativity out of the Magic offense and, with some success this spring, perhaps lure a helpful free agent to what ought to be a destination market anyway. Phoenix, assuming Magic GM Otis Smith could put together a satisfactory package of picks, cash and/or players, would be doing Nash a “solid” and could move on to its next phase. That would be win (Suns), win (Magic), win (Howard), win (Nash), win (Dallas, if Deron Williams decides to head home this summer) and … oops, lose (Nets). Hey, five out of six ain’t bad.

Scott Howard-Cooper: Not possible. There is no such thing as outside-the-box in this case. Sometimes, the obvious is the obvious for a reason. If indications are true and the Magic are only interested in players who can deliver wins now, as opposed to prospects and picks, the options have all been considered. It doesn’t matter, though. Orlando isn’t dealing him before March 15. (more…)

March 5, 2012 · 5:35 PM ET

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY —Deron Williams scored an NBA season-high 57 points Sunday night in Charlotte, but the bigger story coming out of the Nets’ win was an injury to Brook Lopez, who would be the centerpiece of a trade for Dwight Howard.

The Nets said Monday that Lopez suffered a sprained right ankle and will be out for three weeks. The bad news is that the trade deadline is in just 10 days, and after playing every single game in his first three seasons, Lopez has suffered two injuries with his team’s sights set on Howard.

The good news is that the injury, though it’s the same foot, is unrelated to the broken bone that forced Lopez to miss the first 32 games of the season. No injuries are good, but this one isn’t too bad.

So does it affect the Nets’ ability to acquire Howard before the deadline? Not really.

Whether or not Howard gets traded still comes down to Magic owner Rich DeVos and president Alex Martins. If they decide in the next 10 days that they can convince Howard to stay in Orlando beyond this season, they’re not going to trade for Lopez, healthy or not.

But if the Magic realize that Howard’s time in Orlando is definitely coming to an end, they have no choice but to make a deal, so that they can get what they can (players, picks and cap relief) for their star. And if Howard and agent Dan Fegan make it clear that Howard will be playing in Brooklyn no matter what next season, the Magic have little choice but to make a deal with the Nets.

Even with Lopez hobbled, the Nets can still offer a decent package. In addition to Lopez (there’s no restriction on trading for an injured player), they have rookie MarShon Brooks, a bevy of first-round picks, and enough expiring contracts to absorb the contract of Hedo Turkoglu (owed at least $17.8 million after this season) or Glen Davis ($19.4 million) in a trade. The ability to offer Orlando salary relief is an asset in itself, one that New Jersey has been sure to maintain as it has struggled through a 12-26 season.

If Orlando decides to keep Howard, the Nets will wait, hoping to sign him as a free agent in July, an option that would allow them to keep Lopez and their other assets. But they’d surely jump at the chance to trade for Howard in the next 10 days.

Lopez’s latest injury shouldn’t really affect that scenario, because the possibility of a trade is really about what the Magic believe regarding Howard’s long-term intentions, and not about Lopez’s short-term health.